The Council have been carrying out more improvement work to the flower beds to the Ornamental Garden which runs between Ruskin Road and Talbot Road after many years of seeming gradual “decline” in appearance. New planting is expected soon.

The Ornamental Garden as viewed from Ruskin Road

Cllr. Hamish Pollock, chair of the Friends of Carshalton Park whch includes the Ornamental Garden in its remit,  took some photos of the garden in it current state, with shrubbery having been given a major haircut and a number of diseased or dead trees and branches having been removed as requested by local residents and local councillors alike.  Soon the bulbs planted by the Friends of Carshalton Park should start to appear!

The Ornamental Garden as viewed from Talbot Road

London Fire Authority votes against implementing Boris Johnson’s proposals to close 12 fire stations
 
Last week also saw the London Fire Authority vote once again to not accept the Mayor’s proposals to proceed with closing 12 fire stations.
 
Stephen Knight and Cllr Terry Stacy, who are the Liberal Democrat representatives on the Fire Authority voted against proceeding with the Mayoral direction, which is a legal attempt by the Mayor to ensure that the Fire Authority has no option but to implement his plans.
 
For more information BBC London Television report.

There has been a fair bit of speculation recently about the possibility of a 3rd supermarket in Carshalton High Street on the north side next door to Park Lane Pharmacy.  We believe the rumours are referring to what are known officially as Units A, B and C of Beacon Grove, on the north side of Carshalton High Street.

No planning application has been received by Sutton  Council from Tescos or any other supermarket chain (or their agents) in relation to these properties and council planning officers tell us that they not aware of any other proposals. However, as their last use was retail, planning permission would not be needed for a change of use to another retail use such as a supermarket.

Planning permission would only be needed if they were proposing to change the shopfronts, and advertisement consent would probably be needed for any signage they wanted.  It should be pointed out that having a second supermarket in Carshalton High Street in the form of Sainsbury’s (despite the misgivings of many local residents) seems to have encouraged foot fall in the High Street and it is a great credit to the traders that the vast majority of shops are surviving this recession thus  far.  The local supermarkets of course provide much needed local jobs, especially for younger and older people in these difficult times.

Nearby Wallington also has a growing list of supermarkets in the form of Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Lidl, the new store by the station approach and a 5th store in the form of another Sainsbury’s at Canon Court we understand is coming on line soon.

Local Councillors Jill Whitehead, Alan Salter and Hamish Pollock have recently received a copy of a message from Southern Railways regarding the newly-created one-way system at Carshalton Railway Station running from North Street to West Street. 

Carshalton Station’s One Way System

Our keener readers may recall previous reports on this web site that some local residents and councillors were concerned that the one-way system ran parallel with that of the parallel Camden Road leading to extra-long journeys around this part of Carshalton if you are travelling from the roads on the West Street side.

I just wanted to confirm the ongoing plan for the Carshalton (Station) access road. 

 Following the concerns raised about the direction of the access road we agreed to conduct a survey of car users at the station.  We put survey sheets on car windscreens and they were available in the ticket office window and at the gateline.  We had posters up at the station advertising the survey.  From the returned surveys there was a slight majority in favour of keeping the direction of flow the same as it is now.  We therefore plan to do this but we will also be improving the signage to show that cyclist can access the station in either direction and improving the lining to make the one way system clearer – two items that were also raised. 

The station team will confirm this via posters at the station.  Are you able to let the relevant people in the council know?

Regards

Yvonne Leslie, Southern Railways

Local Carshalton Central Cllr. Jill Whitehead reports: “I have recently asked council officers to look into providing a small number of black-painted metal bollards to protect the grass areas in front of the Heritage Centre.” 

Some photographs were taken recently of the considerable damage to the grass caused by inconsiderate drivers in the vicinity of the Heritage Centre turning area. We hope that the work can be carried out urgently. 

Heritage Centre mud looking towards The Greyhound Pub

Heritage Centre mud looking towards Honeywood Walk

Wallington Station Bridge redecorated as seen on 19th February 2013

Wallington Station bridge has been given a lick of paint and with it a new lease of life.

Following a campaign by Wallington South ward councillors, Tom Brake MP and Supported by Wallington Residents Information, Network Rail has been forced to repaint a railway bridge. The Wallington Railway Bridge had been largely neglected for almost a decade, but a campaign was launched by local councillors called for Network Rail to improve it. Tom Brake said: “The bridge is an important landmark in the local area, but had been neglected for years. Thanks to our councillors, it is no longer an eyesore in the town.”The Liberal Democrat councillor for Wallington South Jayne McCoy said: “Thanks to the support of the community we have been able to convince Network Rail to improve the look of the bridge.”

Link to the post: http://wallingtonresidents.info/wallington-railway-bridge-gets-a-face-lift/2024/

Link to Wallington Residents Information: http://wallingtonresidents.info

A photo taken by Cllr. Hamish Pollock on 19th February 2013 is shown.

Carshalton and Wallington MP Tom Brake joined local volunteers at a session of the Sutton food bank in operation, at the Salvation Army branch in Benhill Avenue, Sutton.

With austerity measures hitting residents hard, Sutton Council is proposing to freeze Council Tax for the fourth year running, subject to approval by the Full Council on Monday 4th March.

Carshalton Central ward Cllr. Jill Whitehead says: “The freeze means that Band D taxpayers will have to pay Sutton £1,140.89 for 2013/14 – but a fierce commitment to cutting costs and providing value-for-money means that the authority has been able to keep every library open, retain weekly bin collections and rebuild Carshalton’s own Westcroft Leisure Centre as a world-class facility.

Leader of the Council, Cllr Ruth Dombey, said: “We are very aware that prices are rising faster than incomes and residents are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

“So we looked closely at how we can cut costs and work more efficiently and still provide the excellent services residents expect without raising Council Tax. And I’m pleased to say we have managed that for the fourth consecutive year.

“In fact we would have liked to have cut bills, but most of Sutton’s budget comes from the Government and by 2013/14 our annual grant funding from government will have been reduced by nearly £22million since 2010/11.”

Work to improve efficiency includes the ongoing Smarter Services Sutton programme which is reviewing every service to ensure that the maximum possible use is made of every pound of taxpayers’ money.

Local Cllr. Alan Salter said: “Changes to how the authority collects waste, the introduction of self-service terminals in libraries and even sending out text message reminders to tell residents that Council tax payments are due are all examples of ways in which the council has maintained – and even improved – services while cutting costs”.

The proposal to freeze Council tax was discussed at the Strategy and Resources Committee meeting on Monday 11th February and a final decision will be reached at the full Council Meeting on Monday 4th March.

Carshalton Central ward Cllrs. Alan Salter and Hamish Pollock gave up some of their Saturday time (16th Feb.) to sell books on behalf of fund raising for the cost of the FOCUS newsletters at the regular stall in Sutton High Street, in a tented pitch almost outside Waterstones. 

Most of the good quality, clean paperback books on sale sell for 50p each – a real bargain!  Hardbacks on sale might be a bit more expensive.  There’s a huge fiction section and lots of non-fiction subjects on offer. Jams, marmalades, CDs and DVDs are also inexpensively priced.

If you have any books or CDs or DVDs you want to get rid of please let us know and we will put you in touch with the organiser of the book stall.  The next two dates for the stall are Saturday 16th March and 27th April.  Be there if you like books etc…..!

Photos were taken on Friday 15th February 2013 by Cllr. Hamish Pollock of Cedar Close, a sheltered housing development of the mid-1980s. 

Cedar Close is situated off Salisbury Road, Carshalton, a long, quiet residential road consisting of a mix of houses (mostly inter-war) and a considerable number of flats (mostly seemingly conversions). 

Entrance to Cedar Close

The site of Cedar Close is attractively woody and the mix of single-storey and two-storey sheltered housing units is being demolished to make way for a mews-type development of 9 two storey houses with attic rooms/loft conversions. 

Our regular readers may recall that we had reported that previously the developer acceded to the demands of local residents and local councillors at the meeting of the Council’s Development Control Committee that the development would not be gated, one of the biggest concerns.

Other concerns we made were in relation to potential overlooking from the new properties on the north side of the new development over the gardens of nos. 43 and 45 Salisbury Road, which will be (hopefully) addressed by planting suitable new trees when these are installed.

The Demolition Crew get to Work!